To their credit, they had calculated that it would pass pretty darn close, inside Earth's geosynchronous ring of communications and weather satellites, about 36,000 km from the planet's surface. What they don't factor in is that asteroids can fragment as they approach Earth, causing some fragments to change course... towards us.

One of the fragments apparently made it all the way to the ground, gouging out a 12-meter wide crater next to the city's airport:

Local residents reported that "liquid, sand and dust were blown through the air, which smelled like something had burned." Specifically, they reported that "liquid and debris fell from the sky after the explosion."

"We are convinced that this was a meteorite. We have seen the crater from the impact," said Wilfredo Strauss of the Seismic Institute.

"You can see two waves: first, a small seismic wave when the meteorite hit earth, and then another stronger one, which is the impact of the sound," he said.

NASA reported that FIVE asteroids flew past Earth on September 5th, and they're expecting more space debris to head our way in the coming days and weeks - 31 will be in the neighborhood from September 8th to 30th.

Another huge meteor fireball was caught on camera as it blazed across northern Spain yesterday, September 7th:

Here's a still image of the event over Northern Spain, taken from a webcam in Barcelona:

Are we on the verge of entering a large and dense cluster of cometary debris? Heck, we already appear to have entered a 'meteor storm'.

Do you live in or near Nicaragua? Have you seen photos or video footage of meteor fireball which authorities there say is responsible for the explosion and crater? Or footage of damage caused elsewhere? Help us document this and other events by sending in your photos or video to sott@sott.net